WIP

The squad leader, musician, and a normal member.

I've been working on a Bretonnian commission for a client for a bit now and figured I would post an update about how things are coming along. Though the white and black color scheme is not my favorite, nor one I find very exciting, I found some ways to spice it up with spot color choices such as brown for the under clothes and silver on what metal bits the minis do have.

The unit assembled, still a little work left

I was having trouble at one juncture about how to add some good definition to the white cloth areas. I hate using the GW black wash on white as white is the kind of color that absorbs whatever wash you put on it, thus the black wash turns it grey. I was thinking of just mixing up my own bleached bone wash when I came across a parchment wash from Secret Weapon. I haven't applied it yet but I'm really hoping the parchment wash coupled with some white highlights will give me the look I'm going for.
The client has also asked me to do some light freehand work on the units as well. He wants black crosses added to all of the shield motifs found across the soldiers. On some of the smaller shields found on hips and chests this won't be much of an issue, but I will have to employ a gundam marker and straight edge to make sure I keep the necessary clean crisp lines on the shields of the spearmen and on the standard bearer flags like the one seen below.
Thanks for reading. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

The unit's standard bearer

Inspiration

You know how last post I was plugging myself? Well today I would like to take some time to plug someone else. I was searching around on other blogs and I came across http://bluetablepainting.blogspot.com/ These guys have inspired me. I always thought that trying to paint miniatures professionally was a pipe-dream, something I would never actually be able to achieve and was silly to actually pursue. But these guys have really done it. I highly recommend popping over and visiting their blog, or their website, http://bluetablepainting.com/ itself if you have the chance. The quality of their work is astronomical and they are living the dream I thought was impossible. I am reinvigorated with purpose and drive to up the quality of my own work so that I way operate on the same level as these amazing painters.

A Soul Grinder for my Chaos Daemons army.

I was recently inspired by the man I consider my mentor to take on a huge project. I don't want to go into any exact details yet considering I do not yet have the money to buy the kits necessary to construct what I'm considering, but he was showing me a Chaos Marines Heldrake he had begun work on and, to put things nice and vague, sometimes all you need for inspiration is to view things from a different angle. However I cannot yet afford both a Heldrake and Forgefiend which I will need to complete my new idea so I won't be able to post any in progress shots until maybe a week from now.
However if you are intrigued by the idea please feel free to keep an eye on the site as I might be posting more information and concept sketches related to the idea soon.
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

Plug plug plug

Time for a little shameless plugging. I just felt the last post was a little deep and serious business so I'm just bringing things back up a touch. I do have a few other sites I run regarding my painting and I figured I may as well post them up here. I am always open for commissions, (unless otherwise stated) so if anyone has anything they want painted feel free to hit me up. I'm pretty flexible on pricing as well so I will do my best to work with you when it comes to payment. My other sites are:
http://www.facebook.com/Dansbosspaints
http://medanite-m.deviantart.com/
I post different news on the Devart page and I post give-aways and deals on the Facebook page. The Facebook page acts as a sort of homepage for me so it has the main bulk of my commission related business. Anyone who likes the Facebook page after being sent there from this blog receives a discount on their first commission. So if you drop by the Facebook page and like it, drop a message or comment stating you were lead there by this page and you will be eligible for the discount.
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

A Reaper mini Vampire i did for a client that he plans to use for his Warhammer Fantasy Vampire Counts army.

Moving forward

Plaguebearers of the Black Plague

How far would you go for the things you love? Do you think you could move to a far away land, far away from your friends and family, away from everything familiar to you? If the person whom you love the most would be happier living there, and the move would not effect you at all other than the aforementioned away from familiarity, would you be able to do it?
I would easily still be able to pursue my love of miniature painting if I were to move far away. The move would actually put me closer to the source. Finland is a lot closer to Britain than the United States and I would be a lot closer to GW headquarters as well as closer to Forgeworld, (which would heavily lower the shipping prices on FW stuff therefore making it more affordable.)
If anything the move putting me closer to all those sources would help my progress as a painter. Being nearby, it would no longer be beyond me to enter Golden Daemon and participate in other GW painting and playing competitions.
However, I still don't know if I would be able to leave everything, and more importantly, everyone I know and love. How many people are able to make that sort of jump? How do they do it? Is internet contact with the people in your life enough?
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

Commission

A Soul Drinkers Chaplain I completed for a different client.

So my work has been crushing me lately. I have realized that between my actual job, a fiance, and other things that life throws at you I really only have one, maybe two days a week to work on painting.
I shouldn't be using that as a reason to complain though, this is after all my passion and as such I will continue to be passionate about it. Painting to make money really is living the dream. However 36 Bretonian peasants is a bit much, and it is starting to be rather difficult.

Usually when I paint an army I will paint a single squad of rank and file troops and then reward myself for finishing them by allowing myself to paint something interesting or different. For example; paint a ten man squad of Space Marines, then paint a Dreadnaught as a reward for finishing the slightly redundant squad. It's a simple system really. However the client has requested all 36 peasants be completed at once. I will persevere though..... except he mentioned he may have another 36 to paint afterwords...
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.